SS Navajo Victory was a cargo ship built during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. It was completed by the California Shipbuilding Company on June 30, 1944, and served in the Pacific during World War II. Victory Ship class vessels were designed to replace the Liberty Ship class. Victory Ships were designed to last longer and to serve the US Navy after the war. The Victory Ships were faster, longer, wider, and taller than the Liberty ships, and they had a thinner stack set farther toward the superstructure as well as a long raised forecastle.National parks, Reading 2: Victory Ships

Launch Navajo Victory was christened by Mrs. Tom Price, wife of the general manager of Kaiser Shipyards; the matron of honor was Mrs. Frank Backman. Navajo Victory was the 15th Victory Ship built by the California Shipbuilding Corporation, it was one of 218 Victory Ships named after cities in the United States./shipbuildinghistory.com, Victory Ships

World War II Navajo Victory conducted supply operations in the Pacific Ocean throughout the war under the operation of the Luckenbach Line. On October 18, 1944, it entered Palau with another cargo ship, Sea Pike, escorted by a Marshall Islands-based destroyer, , for protection.On Patrol in the Marshall Islands 1944-45. A partial history of U.S.S. BRACKETT DE--41, by William L. Roberts On November 29, 1944, Navajo Victory and Sea Pike delivered troops and supplies from Ewa Villages, Hawaii, to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323.A HISTORY OF MARINE FIGHTER ATTACK SQUADRON, by Colonel Gerald R. Pitzl, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, page 14. Navajo Victory also delivered supplies for the liberation of The Philippines,History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: The Liberation of The Philippines By Samuel Eliot Morison and for the , an American tank landing ship.USS LST-762 Operational Records - NavSourceVictory Ships On December 29, 1944, it supplied fleet ships at Seeadler Harbor, Manus Island.DECK LOG BOOK & WAR DIARY, CONDENSED, USS DENVER, CL 58, DECEMBER 1, 1944 TO DECEMBER 31, 1944 On January 16, 1945, it unloaded troop rations at New Guinea for the troops stationed there.War Diary - Michael K. Wood home page 16th Ohio Volunteer Infantry It prepared for Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan, from June 26 to August 15, 1945, with exercises at Leyte. The training exercises were halted after the surrender of Japan on August 15.

Postwar From 1946 to 1949, Navajo Victory was a relief ship, a fleet supply ship and as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Astoria, Oregon.REGULAR MEETING OF TIE BOARD OF Port of Oakland

Korean War Navajo Victory served as a United States Merchant Marine vessel during the Korean War. It made nine trips to Korea between November 18, 1950, and December 23, 1952, transporting mail, food, and other supplies,The Times from San Mateo, California · Page 1, August 8, 1952 and assisted in the transport of the 140th Tank Battalion. Merchant marine ships transported roughly 75% of all personnel to Korea.Small United States and United Nations Warships in the Korean War, By Paul M. EdwardsKorean War Educator, Merchant Marine, Accounts of the Korean War

Menestheus rescue On April 16, 1953, Navajo Victory received a distress call from the motor ship , a 7,800-ton British freighter. Menestheus had left Balboa, Panama, on April 5 en route to Osaka with a cargo of rice. When Menestheus was about 90 miles northwest of Magdalena Bay and 130 miles west of Baja California, an auxiliary generator exploded in her engine room, starting a fire that forced the crew to abandon ship. The crew of 81 was in the lifeboats by the time Navajo Victory arrived. Navajo Victory rescued them and took them to San Diego. Navajo Victory towed Menestheus for nearly 500 miles, but was eventually forced to abandon her.The Baytown Sun from Baytown, Texas · Page 1, April 16, 1953Long Beach Independent from Long Beach, California · Page 8, April 17, 1953

Navajo Victory lay idle in Astoria, Oregon until 1966.

Vietnam War In 1966 Navajo Victory was reactivated for the Vietnam War. It was operated by the American Mail Line.The American Legion Magazine, Volume 81, No. 1 In July 1966Vietnam War, A Fight for Honor: The Charles Kerkman Story, By Michael Ireland, page 31

After the war in 1973, it was laid up in Suisun Bay as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet as part of the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet. It was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1985.Mariners, The Website Of The Mariners Mailing List. Victory Ships

See also List of Victory ships Liberty ship Type C1 ship Type C2 ship Type C3 ship

References

Sources Sawyer, L.A. and W.H. Mitchell. Victory ships and tankers: The history of the ‘Victory’ type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II, Cornell Maritime Press, 1974, 0-87033-182-5. United States Maritime Commission: Victory Cargo Ships